Barn-find rescuer
1957 AUSTIN A35
‘Let me introduce “Rory”. I snapped up this little fella just a week before lockdown and have slowly been re-commissioning him. Sat in a lock up for over 15 years, he fired up with a fresh battery and fuel and rolled on pumped-up tyres.
‘He’s never been welded and the box file of documents included original handbooks and fully stamped service books verifying his 35,000 miles from new 63 years ago! One of the two previous owners even kept a meticulous log of every gallon of fuel and journeys made. How much did I pay? Less than a grand!’
‘The main difficulty initially was that I was shielding and my lock-up is 15 minutes down the road. When restrictions eased, I was able to carry out the work. So far, I’ve renewed the fuel pump and cleaned and re-jetted the carb, fitted a new thermostat and radiator hoses, flushed the system through and changed the fluids. I then went through the brakes, renewing cylinders, pipes and hoses. The tyres were replaced as the originals were cracked.
‘Parts have been easy to come by although delivery times were extended due to COVID, but I’m in no rush to finish.
‘Unfortunately, on a local shakedown run last week he blew a gasket so that’s the next job on the list. Fortunately, it’s such an easy car to work on.
‘I’m going to keep Rory as original as possible and keep modern upgrades to a minimum. I’ll have a little fun with the old thing when local shows resume and maybe decide on his future next year. Meantime, he keeps my 1949 Austin Devon company.’